RACING.COM CRITICIZED FOR BEDDING DOWN WITH 'PARASITE' CORPORATES

TABCORP supremo David Attenborough has raised new questions about racing.com’s promotion of corporate bookmakers, saying the broadcaster is undermining the funding of Victorian racing.

PATRICK BARTLEY reports for FAIRFAX MEDIA that racing.com is a joint venture between the Victorian racing industry and Seven West Media. It recently entered into new sponsorship arrangements with Northern Territory-licensed corporate bookmakers Sportsbet, CrownBet and Bet365.

Attenborough said the Victorian TAB returns 9.6¢ in every dollar to the racing industry on a tote bet and 7.5¢ on a TAB fixed odds bet. The equivalent figure for corporate bookmakers is 2.8¢ and only for bets placed on Victorian racing.

The Victorian industry will not get any revenue from corporate bookmaker bets on South Australian racing, which racing.com starts broadcasting in August.

"At the moment we have our differences with racing.com on the way that they're supporting the sustainable funding of racing," Attenborough said in an interview on RSN.

"I struggle to understand the heavy promotion of a model that undermines the actual funding of racing.

"Racing.com was set up as a showcase channel for Victorian racing and it's morphing away from that more and more."

Racing.com has said turnover on Victorian racing has increased 17 per cent since it commenced broadcasting. Despite this, Racing Victoria's wagering returns declined in 2015-16 with the growth coming from corporate bookmakers at the expense of the TAB.

Attenborough also spurned the idea that Tabcorp would increase takeout rates on tote bets once it merges with Tatts.

And, Attenborough said that a merger between Tatts and Tabcorp had fuelled the prospect of a national tote, which many in racing across Australia have advocated for some time.

"It does create a pathway towards a national tote pool and that means better depth and less volatility, but there are a range of approvals and support required from the racing industry across all of the states to achieve that and it is certainly an aim of ours to get there," he said.

The Australian Competition Tribunal last week gave the green light to the merger and the creation of an $11 billion company.

"It's a very, very competitive market and we're not going to do anything that's going to make us less competition," he said.